write a diary
literally
just write a diary, it has helped me sooo much and i dare say it has been the most developing thing i’ve done while learning french, nothing else compares
1. you’re exposed to the language daily
2. you quickly see which words are missing from your vocabulary
3. you learn to write about the things you think about a lot
4. learning to actually think in your target language
5. having to look up words and when reading the entry back a couple of days later you can’t even remember which words you didn’t know
6. going back to the earlier entries and seeing all the mistakes and knowing how much better you’ve become
7. when you’ve been writing for a few months and your target language becomes a natural way for expressing yourself
8. when you’ve been writing for a few months and you start seeing the diary writing as a way of self-expression and stressrelief, and the language learning aspect becomes natural and secondary
9. filling out a whole book using only your target language and physically seeing how much you’ve accomplished
Silly little drawing i did to practice body parts in russian (части тела)
Vocab ru - eng:
голова - head
глаз - eye
ухо - ear
нос - nose
рот - mouth
рука - arm, hand
живот - stomach/belly (? Not sure which one is correct)
нога - leg
стопа - foot
колено - knee
палец - finger, toe
плечо - shoulder
шея - neck
бровь - eyebrow
волосы (pl.) - hair
тело - body
The 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences The 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences The 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences The 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences The 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences The 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences The 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences The 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences
(Sources: 5 Steps to Speak a New Language by Hung Quang Pham)
This article has an excellent summary on how to rapidly learn a new language within 90 days.
We can begin with studying the first 600 words. Of course chucking is an effective way to memorize words readily. Here’s a list to translate into the language you desire to learn that I grabbed from here! :)
EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)
‘Yes’ and ‘no’: yes, no, absolutely, no way, exactly.
Question words: when? where? how? how much? how many? why? what? who? which? whose?
Apologizing: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, well now, I’m afraid so, I’m afraid not.
Meeting and parting: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, goodbye, cheers, see you later, pleased to meet you, nice to have met.
Interjections: please, thank you, don’t mention it, sorry, it’ll be done, I agree, congratulations, thank heavens, nonsense.
NOUNS (about 120 words)
Time: morning, afternoon, evening, night; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; spring, summer, autumn, winter; time, occasion, minute, half-hour, hour, day, week, month, year.
People: family, relative, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife; colleague, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend; people, person, human being, man, woman, lady, gentleman, boy, girl, child.
Objects: address, bag, book, car, clothes, key, letter (=to post), light (=lamp), money, name, newspaper, pen, pencil, picture, suitcase, thing, ticket.
Places: place, world, country, town, street, road, school, shop, house, apartment, room, ground; Britain, name of the foreign country, British town-names, foreign town-names.
Abstract: accident, beginning, change, color, damage, fun, half, help, joke, journey, language, English, name of the foreign language, letter (of alphabet), life, love, mistake, news, page, pain, part, question, reason, sort, surprise, way (=method), weather, work.
Other: hand, foot, head, eye, mouth, voice; the left, the right; the top, the bottom, the side; air, water, sun, bread, food, paper, noise.
PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)
General: of, to, at, for, from, in, on.
Logical: about, according-to, except, like, against, with, without, by, despite, instead of.
Space: into, out of, outside, towards, away from, behind, in front of, beside, next to, between, above, on top of, below, under, underneath, near to, a long way from, through.
Time: after, ago, before, during, since, until.
DETERMINERS (about 80 words)
Articles and numbers: a, the; nos. 0–20; nos. 30–100; nos. 200–1000; last, next, 1st–12th.
Demonstrative: this, that.
Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
Quantifiers: all, some, no, any, many, much, more, less, a few, several, whole, a little, a lot of.
Comparators: both, neither, each, every, other, another, same, different, such.
ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)
Color: black, blue, green, red, white, yellow.
Evaluative: bad, good, terrible; important, urgent, necessary; possible, impossible; right, wrong, true.
General: big, little, small, heavy; high, low; hot, cold, warm; easy, difficult; cheap, expensive; clean, dirty; beautiful, funny (=comical), funny (=odd), usual, common (=shared), nice, pretty, wonderful; boring, interesting, dangerous, safe; short, tall, long; new, old; calm, clear, dry; fast, slow; finished, free, full, light (=not dark), open, quiet, ready, strong.
Personal: afraid, alone, angry, certain, cheerful, dead, famous, glad, happy, ill, kind, married, pleased, sorry, stupid, surprised, tired, well, worried, young.
VERBS (about 100 words)
arrive, ask, be, be able to, become, begin, believe, borrow, bring, buy, can, change, check, collect, come, continue, cry, do, drop, eat, fall, feel, find, finish, forget, give, going to, have, have to, hear, help, hold, hope, hurt (oneself), hurt (someone else), keep, know, laugh, learn, leave, lend, let (=allow), lie down, like, listen, live (=be alive), live (=reside), look (at), look for, lose, love, make, may (=permission), may (=possibility), mean, meet, must, need, obtain, open, ought to, pay, play, put, read, remember, say, see, sell, send, should, show, shut, sing, sleep, speak, stand, stay, stop, suggest, take, talk, teach, think, travel, try, understand, use, used to, wait for, walk, want, watch, will, work (=operate), work (=toil), worry, would, write.
PRONOUNS (about 40 words)
Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
Demonstrative: this, that.
Universal: everyone, everybody, everything, each, both, all, one, another.
Indefinite: someone, somebody, something, some, a few, a little, more, less; anyone, anybody, anything, any, either, much, many.
Negative: no-one, nobody, nothing, none, neither.
ADVERBS (about 60 words)
Place: here, there, above, over, below, in front, behind, nearby, a long way away, inside, outside, to the right, to the left, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, home, upstairs, downstairs.
Time: now, soon, immediately, quickly, finally, again, once, for a long time, today, generally, sometimes, always, often, before, after, early, late, never, not yet, still, already, then (=at that time), then (=next), yesterday, tomorrow, tonight.
Quantifiers: a little, about (=approximately), almost, at least, completely, very, enough, exactly, just, not, too much, more, less.
Manner: also, especially, gradually, of course, only, otherwise, perhaps, probably, quite, so, then (=therefore), too (=also), unfortunately, very much, well.
CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)
Coordinating: and, but, or; as, than, like.
Time & Place: when, while, before, after, since (=time), until; where.
Manner & Logic: how, why, because, since (=because), although, if; what, who, whom, whose, which, that.
"Crocodile Gena" (1969) and "Cheburashka" (1971) are puppet cartoons, based on the book of Eduard Uspensky. Crocodile Gena works in a zoo as a crocodile. He is very lonely. Gena finally decides to make friends. Animals and people react to his announcement. Soon, Cheburashka comes to his place, and together they begin to do good things.
«Крокоди́л Ге́на»» (1969) и «Чебурáшка» (1971) - ку́кольные мультфи́льмы, сня́тые по моти́вам кни́ги Эдуа́рда Успе́нского. Крокоди́л Ге́на рабо́тает в зоопа́рке — крокоди́лом. Он о́чень одино́к. Наконе́ц Ге́на реша́ет завести́ себе́ друзе́й. На его объявле́ния отклика́ются зве́ри и люди. Вско́ре к нему́ прихо́дит Чебурáшка, и они́ вме́сте начина́ют де́лать до́брые дела.
Among his multiple talents, Gena plays accordion and sings. On a rainy day, which happens to be his birthday, he sings the following song:
Песня Крокодила Гены
Пусть бегут неуклюже,
Пешеходы по лужам,
А вода по асфальту рекой.
И неясно прохожим,
В этот день непогожий,
Почему я весёлый такой.
Я играю на гармошке,
У прохожих на виду,
К сожалению, день рожденья,
Только раз в году.
Прилетит вдруг волшебник,
В голубом вертолёте,
И бесплатно покажет кино,
С днём рожденья поздравит,
И, наверно, оставит,
Мне в подарок пятьсот эскимо.
Я играю на гармошке,
У прохожих на виду,
К сожалению, день рожденья,
Только раз в году.
Gena the Crocodile's Song
Never mind that the clumsy pedestrians
are jumping over rain puddles.
And that the water is streaming down the street.
And never mind that the passers-by can't make sense of
Why is it that I'm so happy on such a dreary day.
Yet I'm playing my accordion
In front of everyone on the street.
It's so sad that a birthday
Can only happen once a year.
A wizard will suddenly appear
In a blue whirlybird,
And will show me free movies.
He'll say Happy Birthday
And just before he flies away
He'll probably leave 500 ice cream cones for me.
Yet I'm playing my accordion
In front of everyone on the street.
It's so sad that a birthday
Can only happen once a year
(https://youtu.be/lUBNtYixTSs)
Некоторые фразы из этого мультфильма русские используют в речи:
Мы строили, строили и наконец построили. Ура! (We built, built and finally finished. Hooray!)
Чебурашка, ты настоящий друг.(Cheburashka, you are true friend)
Опять чебурахнулся*. Ух ты, Чебурашка какой. (*ЧЕБУРÁХНУТЬСЯ - Упасть с шумом /this verb means to fall with a big noise. The name Чебурашка is derived from the verb чебурахнуться)
Дайте человеку хлеб - и он сыт весь день (Give a man bread and he's full all day long)
Дайте человеку арбуз - и он ссыт всю ночь (Give a man watermelon and he pisses all night)
There is a pun here, the two words sound absolutely the same: - сыт - is full. - ссыт - pisses This is what makes it very funny in Russian.
Vocabulary: сытый (short form: сыт, сыта, сыты) - to be full ссать - to piss (colloquial)
I’m honestly so glad that you love the Improvisation posts. I’m even more glad I have a lot of content to translate for you :) Hope you enjoy this bit!
*Alexander Nezlobin is a famous Russian comedian. **Sasha is short for Alexander. Don’t ask, I don’t get it either. There are a lot of instances where the short version of a Russian name sounds completely different from the name itself.
I’m not gonna lie, this is probably my favourite episode from Evening Urgant. This is a bit from the interview with Stephen Colbert.
What are they talking about? Stephen and Ivan are referring to the so called ‘White Nights’ (Белые ночи), which Saint-Petersburg is famous for. It’s a night when it is never properly dark. The White Nights’ season usually takes place from June 11th to July 2nd. By ‘the bridges’ Ivan meant the Palace Bridge, which draws at 1:10 AM and 3:10 AM.
A picture from Wikipedia taken in Saint-Petersburg. June 23rd, 2009, 11:49 PM
The Palace Bridge during White Nights
The original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3VFQ8wYZg The cut version they showed at Stephen’s show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWnVV3-0wgw
i know there are a million of these posts out there but here’s a personalized one for the apps that i find helpful during the school year! i won’t mention stuff like forest or duolingo bc obv we all know about those.
1. pocket schedule - this is my go-to new app for glancing at my schedule. because i am a disaster of a human being, my first few weeks of class are spent continuously checking back on the student website for my timetable in order to figure out what room number i’m in. pocket schedule is a basic timetable and also lets you add in tasks and assignments.
2. overdrive/libby- overdrive has saved my goddamn life. i RARELY have time to go to the library (just look at my library fines, lmao) and when i do i usually get way too much that i don’t read. if you download libby or overdrive you can access your library’s ebook selection. if i remember correctly libby also has audiobooks for those like me who walk everywhere.
3. onenote- perfect for a digital bujo if the regular bujo doesn’t work for you. it’s easier to look at on a laptop but i like to check my habit tracker if i’m waiting in line for food or on the bus.
4. bear- a simple and clean writing app. mostly used for grocery lists. can also be used as a diary if that’s your thing.
5. daylio- a mood journal in which you can track your mood over the course of several months. an awesome tool if you go to therapy and need to check yourself daily.
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[sheet/get ill]
[you get ill
I don't wanna get fucking sick]
actually, we don't call it russian, we simply call it cheeki-breeki
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